title: Pregnenolone sulfate: from steroid metabolite to TRP channel ligand.
abstract: Pregnenolone sulfate is a steroid metabolite with a plethora of actions and functions. As a neurosteroid, pregnenolone sulfate modulates a variety of ion channels, transporters, and enzymes. Interestingly, as a sulfated steroid, pregnenolone sulfate is not the final- or waste-product of pregnenolone being sulfated via a phase II metabolism reaction and renally excreted, as one would presume from the pharmacology textbook knowledge. Pregnenolone sulfate is also the source and thereby the starting point for subsequent steroid synthesis pathways. Most recently, pregnenolone sulfate has been functionally "upgraded" from modulator of ion channels to an activating ion channel ligand. This review will focus on molecular aspects of the neurosteroid, pregnenolone sulfate, its metabolism, concentrations in serum and tissues and last not least will summarize the functional data.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapy, Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen 72074, Germany. christian.harteneck@uni-tuebingen.de.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Harteneck
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D011284:Pregnenolone / Q000502:physiology*; D018079:Receptors, GABA / Q000378:metabolism; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D050051:Transient Receptor Potential Channels / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D018079:Receptors, GABA; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D050051:Transient Receptor Potential Channels; C018370:pregnenolone sulfate; D011284:Pregnenolone